Homemade Cake Flour

 Homemade Cake Flour 

Many  cake recipes call for cake flour instead of all-purpose (aka plain flour). The short answer is that cake flour is what makes  cakes ultra light and fluffy!  I get tons of questions about whether or not it’s ok to substitute all-purpose flour and while it’s not something I recommend, there is a way to create homemade cake flour using all-purpose. I’ll show you how! 

But, if you're anything like me, you don't always have cake flour on hand. That shouldn't be a problem though. You make cake flour at home with 2 simple ingredients you already have in the pantry.

The Difference Between Cake Flour and All-Purpose Flour

While all-purpose flour is made from a combination of soft and hard wheat, cake flour is made from only soft wheat that’s been milled extra fine. It contains the lowest protein content of all the flours, and in baking, the lower the protein content the softer the texture. The higher the protein content, the more dense and sticky your batter will be, thus the more dense a cake will be after it’s baked. 

Are you measuring your flour correctly?

Try these tips to make sure that it’s perfect every time and that you don’t ever have a sunken cake again!

Fluff up the flour with a fork or spoon.

Use a spoon to add the flour into your dry-cup measure (the one that measures exactly a cup at the top)

Scrape off the excess with the straight edge of a knife.

Professional bakers know that using CAKE FLOUR creates a beautiful crumb and a perfectly perfect cake.

You Will Need:

All-Purpose Flour (also known as Plain Flour)

Cornstarch

Measuring cup (1 Cup)

Measuring spoon (1 Tbsp)

Sifter

Instructions: 

Place 2 Tbsp of cornstarch into a one-cup measuring cup.

Spoon all-purpose flour or plain flour into the measuring cup and level it off to make exactly one cup.
Repeat per the amount of cake flour the recipe calls for, then sift it all together into a large bowl 4-6 times. I know, it’s a lot of sifting, but so worth it! 
You can make large amounts of this cake flour ahead of time and store it in an airtight container in your pantry. This way, you won’t have to repeat the measuring-and-sifting process every time you make a cake. It’s a little more time intensive than buying actual cake flour, but it totally works in a pinch.